The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, have officially inaugurated the Tangier-Casablanca high speed line, allowing trains to run at speeds of 320 km/h between Tangier and Kenitra, the first 180-km long section of the network. Between the 200-km Kenitra – Casablanca section, the trains will join the conventional network where they will run at 160 km/h. The service will connect these main economic regions of the country, in 2 hours and 10 minutes instead of 4hours and 45 minutes.
Under the project, Alstom has delivered ONCF (Office National des Chemins de Fer Marocain) 12 very high-speed trains for the Tangier-Casablanca railway section. In addition, Alstom also supplied the level 1&2 on-board ERTMS for the trains.
Avelia Euroduplex trainsets for Morocco are articulated double-deck trains adapted to specific climate and environment conditions.
With a capacity of 533 passengers, each trainset is composed of 8 cars including two first-class cars, a dining car and five second class cars. Trains integrate the latest developments in terms of comfort and accessibility. One part of the train is fully dedicated for people with reduced mobility. Trains are also equipped with digital passenger information systems, bilingual in Arabic and French. They benefit from the proven Avelia range of high speed trains, which boasts more than 1,100 trains in commercial service.
The French delegation comprised the representatives of the consortia who were involved in the implementation of the project such as Alstom – that delivered the trains, Ansaldo-Ineo consortium (which supplied the signalling and telecommunication systems), Cegelec (electrical substations) and the Colas Rail-Egis Rail consortium that provided the tracks and catenary system. SNCF provided project management assistance to the Office National des Chemins de Fer Marocain (ONCF).
According to estimations, ONCF expects six million passengers in the first three years of exploitation.
The value of the project was EUR 2 billion (23 billion of dirhams), of which 50% was financed by France through various loans.
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